


Attention

by VoidGhost



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Arm Wrestling, M/M, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Pining, workout buddies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 10:26:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17486420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoidGhost/pseuds/VoidGhost
Summary: Jesse is trying to ask Hanzo out - keyword 'trying'.It only fails because Hanzo seems to have his attention taken to someone else.





	Attention

**Author's Note:**

> From a prompt by 8love-is-kind on tumblr: 'I was listen to Attention from Charlie Puth, and I was thinking about a prompt where McCree get interest in Hanzo, Hanzo start to gain more confidence towards his needs, the needs he choose to not feel for a long time, Hanzo start to sleep around with another person (Zarya? Idk, any other overwatch person) McCree comes with a real talk, but Hanzo don't know if his feelings towards the Cowboy is genuine or he was just enjoying, you know, the attention. (Sorry 4 spell mistakes, I'm Brazilian):>'
> 
> Not quiiiiite as the prompter wanted it probably, but i had fun with this, hope you do too!

When Jesse first met Hanzo, they started off on not-so-friendly terms. 

Knowing what Hanzo did to Genji, Jesse wasn’t going to let him off without a warning. Even if Genji had already given his forgiveness, and was the one that brought Hanzo to the new Overwatch HQ (formerly the Watchpoint), Jesse couldn’t be satisfied with that. 

As Hanzo Shimada stalked by where Jesse leaned against a wall, cigar on his lip, he uttered his warning: “Best keep yourself in check, Shimada.” 

Hanzo had given him a stare, and it was established then that they would not be friends. 

Which, ironically, wasn’t at all what happened. 

They had gotten over their threatening staring contests whenever they were in the same room when Jesse saved Hanzo from getting his head blown off like a watermelon on a shooting range. 

He had spotted the sniper when it targeted him. Jesse ducked behind cover, a stray piece of debris from the abandoned construction site on the far side of Numbani. The half-finished building had been home to some Talon activity, and Jesse was sent in a team of six to the location. 

With Jesse hiding, he pinpointed the sniper from a building across the street. One of the windows, probably. But then the gunfire died down, and Jesse thought the sniper finally took the attention off of him; then he saw Hanzo above. 

There was a part of the building that opened up to its skeletal structure of steel beams and pipes. Hanzo had been pushed back to that part of the building, and Jesse noticed a stream of gunfire as Hanzo tried to duck under a beam. He could dodge the soldiers chasing him, but he did not know of the sniper across the street. 

Jesse let out a frustrated growl. He picked up a nearby rock - later he admitted that he could’ve done it differently - and chucked it to where Hanzo stood. It made a loud  _ clang  _ as it hit a steel beam, causing Hanzo to jump in place and notice Jesse waving his arms on the ground. 

“ _ Sniper! _ ” He yelled, hoping his voice carried two stories up. 

Hanzo must have heard; he ducked just as a loud crack broke the air, the sniper’s bullet just hitting the space his head previously resided. 

There was no time for gratitude then, so they both went back to their respective jobs, now aware that a sniper was targeting them. It was back on the drop ship that Hanzo paused before Jesse and silently nodded his thanks. 

The second step to becoming accidental friends was coming to the same spot on the roof to get drunk. Jesse was already sipping at his bottle of Jim Beam when he spotted Hanzo sitting on the edge of the roof, legs dangling off and a gourd of sake in his hand. Jesse had already claimed this spot back in his Blackwatch days, a small secluded part of the Watchpoint that allowed him to brew in his own thoughts, so he wasn’t about to give it up first. 

He took a seat in his usual place, not that far from the spot Hanzo chose. They passed each other a glance; another silent argument. But Jesse learned that day that they were both as stubborn as mules. 

It ended when Hanzo got up first to leave, some hours later, with an empty gourd. When he did, Jesse almost missed the company. 

Then it just became a casual thing. More often than not, Jesse would find Hanzo there, or vice versa. They would sit in silence, or Jesse tried to break the ice after he knew they each loosened up a bit. Conversation remained trivial; opinions on politics, current events in the world. Never anything in Overwatch, never about each other. It was safe that way. 

Jesse would crack a few jokes and he began a game with himself to see when Hanzo would crack a smile, or hide a laugh behind a cupped hand. 

Meeting Hanzo on the roof almost felt a break from the rest of the world. 

So he supposed he should’ve known that he got too attached when Hanzo went MIA in a mission. 

So he might have gotten shot - it wasn’t his fault that they didn’t expect to encounter the Reaper, after all, but it was  _ partially _ his fault that he let himself get cornered. While nursing a fresh shotgun wound to his side, he witnessed an arrow coming out of nowhere to burst through the Reaper’s chest. He disappeared, as expected, into a slithering cloud of smoke, but Jesse could do nothing but shout for backup as Hanzo climbed up a wall to chase after the Grim Reaper knock-off. 

He was missing for all of fifteen minutes until he returned to the drop ship, at which point Jesse chewed him a new one. Angela had already wrapped up his wound, but he was in danger of jostling the wound when trying to get in Hanzo’s face about the danger of the situation. 

It may have been when Genji grabbed his shoulder to tell him to back off that it sunk in how much he had gotten attached to Hanzo’s presence. 

So maybe they had become friends. 

It took another a night of drinking together and watching Hanzo try to apologize for the event. The moment felt too awkward (never about each other)  so Jesse cracked a stupid joke, watching Hanzo’s head tip back and his throat bob as a hand tried to cover his flushed face, and Jesse found himself absolutely stunned, suddenly in awe of the beauty in front of him that he didn’t notice until now. 

Fuck. 

So maybe he was a little more than attached. 

He was in the middle of still figuring his - crush?  _ Love? _ \- when they recruited a new force from Russia. Agent Zaryanova, a former bodyguard of Katya Volskaya, who showed interest in their little organization not long after a prior mission in Russia. She was an obvious bodybuilder; her large, muscled frame dwarfed Jesse. He supposed they were all in awe of her at first, though she paid little attention to any of them except Reinhardt. She challenged the burly man to an arm wrestling contest immediately, one which she lost after holding for an impressive fifteen minutes. 

And then, when Jesse rejoined the gym once his side healed enough, he felt the first pangs of jealousy. Zarya, as the rest of them had taken to calling her, was oblivious to the eyes on her as she focused on lifting weights. But one set of eyes in particular had Jesse stumbling on the treadmill; Hanzo watched from his place on a workout bench, eyes trained on Zarya. Jesse frantically looked between them and felt his heart in his throat. 

He could just be imagining it, right?

But then, Jesse walked in the gym to find them working out  _ together _ . Mid-conversation that Jesse couldn’t hear, Hanzo spotting Zarya as she attempted an impressively large barbell, Zarya mouthing something and Hanzo tossing his head back, hand over his mouth and throat bobbing. 

Jesse turned around and left. 

There wasn’t a doubt now. He had truly fallen for the archer. Seeing him made him weak; his smile made Jesse’s heart speed up; seeing him in action could leave Jesse stunned in awe. 

Seeing him with Zarya? It made his stomach twist in knots. Like he had swallowed a jar of brine that kept trying to bubble up his throat. 

The worst part was that he knew next to nothing about Hanzo; their late night meetings didn’t usually include emotional dumps. So, as much as Jesse wanted to avoid this, he had no choice but to consult Genji. 

“You have a crush on my brother?” Genji asked, far too amused for Jesse’s comfort. 

He nodded, attempting to preserve some dignity for himself. Genji watched him for a long moment, as if trying to read him, where Jesse was forced to stare at an impassive mask. Eventually, Genji laughed. 

“You’re serious!” 

“Why would I lie about this?” Jesse countered, far more defensive than he intended. 

That got Genji’s laughter to die out. He seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before speaking. “I can’t read my brother as much anymore. He perfected his poker face since I saw him ten years ago. But I can say with certainty that he has a particular likeness for you.” 

Jesse mulled over the words and got nothing. “What am I supposed to do with that?”

Genji sighed, and Jesse had a feeling he was rolling his eyes. “Just talk to him.” 

So, Jesse did. Or tried. 

He took ten minutes to build himself up for it - taking a shot of whiskey and practicing in front of a mirror how to ask Hanzo out to dinner - and stalked down the hallway towards Hanzo’s room. Their dormitory took place in two hallways, wrapped around a corner. Jesse had just turned the corner to the second hallway of dorms when a door opened and Hanzo walked out. 

Now, Jesse had been pining after Hanzo long enough to know where his room was located, and it was  _ not  _ the room he just walked out of. 

He might have continued forward if not for the way Hanzo appeared; flushed, in loose clothing, holding a towel to his face with a satisfied smile. Without a glance in Jesse’s direction, Hanzo crossed the hallway to his own room and the halls were lapsed in silence once again. 

Jesse had enough guts to walk down and find out what the first room was, even though his stomach was already twisting in knots. His fears were confirmed when he found the first room belonged to ‘Agent Zaryanova’, as the words engraved on the door showed.

Feeling like he was definitely going to throw up now, Jesse hurriedly made his escape back to the safety of his own room. 

He missed a few too many official meetings as a result of that incident. He had an awful crush, a  _ literal  _ crushing in his chest every time he thought about what he witnessed. It was obvious Hanzo did not reciprocate, so he found himself hiding away in order to avoid him.

While stewing in his own self-hate, Genji had barged into his room - he remembered the code Jesse still used when they were back in Blackwatch together. 

“What happened?”

Jesse was buried under a pile of blankets and made a noncommittal noise. He really should have expected Genji to approach and yank the blankets off, but Jesse still whined and covered his face with a pillow. 

“Is this about Hanzo?” It sounded more like an accusation. A little frightened, Jesse nodded into the pillow around his face. 

There was a long silence, and Genji sighed. “He came to me all worried about where you were. He said he hasn’t seen you in a couple nights. I did not know you two frequently met up late at night.” 

Jesse let the pillow fall away and scowled. “It ain’t like that.”

“Then what?” Genji asked, and Jesse realized he was  _ angry _ . “Hanzo insisted on being vague about what you two get up to at night. If you’re messing around with my brother’s feelings, McCree--” 

“I said it ain’t like that.” Jesse sat up, running a hand down his face. “He doesn’t even  _ like  _ me that way.” He tucked his knees up to his chest and absolutely did not pout as he said, “Seems to me he likes Zarya a whole lot more.” 

It took Genji a moment to process. “Are you  _ jealous? _ ” At Jesse’s sharp glare, he barked a laugh. “At his workout buddy?” 

“They’re more than jus’ ‘buddies’.” Jesse made air quotes. “Saw Han leavin’ her room the other day.” 

As the implication set in, Jesse waited to hear what Genji would say. Maybe he’d feel bad, after Jesse had taken the time to vent about his feelings. Judging by the state Genji found him in, Jesse supposed he was a pathetic sight. 

Instead he got, “You’re a dumbass.” He opened his mouth to defend himself, but Genji held a hand up. “When I said talk to him, I meant it. Now do it before I make Hanzo come here himself.” 

So he tried again. 

He saw Hanzo next when he finally crawled out of his bed. His first stop was the training range, a place he neglected since attempting the Hanzo-Purge. He had fallen out of practice with his usual schedule when he knew Hanzo would be around. 

Even though he came out of his bedroom to see Hanzo, he still wasn’t prepared for when he finally did. 

Hanzo was just as elegant as ever. He had on his typical mission clothes, the type Jesse loved; it exposed one pec and that intricate tattoo that drew Jesse’s eye ever since he saw it. With his back taut as he strung back his bow, letting an arrow fly, Jesse witnessed just the barest smirk as it hit dead center on the target. 

As Jesse stepped up to a target, he kept his focus on reloading Peacekeeper. He was still formulating a way to start a conversation when Hanzo beat him to it. 

“It seems our paths haven’t crossed in a long while, McCree.” Hanzo kept his eyes on the target, lining up another arrow. Jesse had a hard time pinpointing his tone. 

“Yeah, just got hit with a bug.” Even Jesse heard the lie in his tone, but all Hanzo did was purse his lips, letting the arrow hit with a dull  _ thunk  _ on the target. It was off-center. 

“That is unfortunate.” 

“Yeah.” Jesse held up Peacekeeper, intending to aim for the head of a training bot, but his first shot hit the shoulder. He cursed. “Sorry to miss our usual ‘Get Drunk and Sulk’ time.” 

That, at least, got him a smile. “No worries.” 

They settled into a rhythm where each worked peacefully, almost like the comfortable companionship they shared when drinking late at night. He even caught Hanzo glancing at him every now and then, and a warm feeling like hope began to rise in him. 

As Hanzo began to collect his arrows, Jesse felt like their time was cutting short. Hanzo slung the sheath of arrows across his back just as Jesse approached him. 

“Hey, Han,” Jesse asked, suddenly nervous. “You free tonight? For dinner?” 

Hanzo looked at him blankly for a moment. Then, almost stuttering, “Ah, well...Zaryanova and I had plans, but…” 

And Jesse remembered why he wasn’t going to do this. 

“That’s alright, darlin’,” Jesse said, voice surprisingly steady for the knot tightening in his throat. “Some other time, then. You have a fun time with Zarya.” Then he turned heel and stalked off, not trusting himself to ramble more. 

So, he stood at a weird impasse. Pining for a man he’d never get, watching him give all his attention to someone else. Being unable to do anything about it. 

But at the same time, relishing those moments he got. Making Hanzo laugh, admiring him from a distance. Their ‘Get Drunk and Sulk’ nights was simultaneously his favorite part of the day  _ and _ the bane of his existence. Being right beside Hanzo, having the ability to touch and tell, yet knowing the consequences doing so. 

Genji cast them glances when he thought Jesse wasn’t looking. He dodged any questions asked by the man. Jesse had gotten the answers he needed from Hanzo, and now he was on the road to acceptance. Hopefully he’ll eventually get over this too-big crush that felt stapled to his heart. 

It certainly didn’t help that Hanzo seemed oblivious to his pain. 

He had turned into the dorm hallway, returning from the latest checkup from Angela - his wound was almost completely healed, and that would be his last checkup - when he was witness again to Hanzo leaving Zarya’s room, flushed and sweaty. He leaned in the doorway, listening to something Zarya said that made his face impossibly more red, and he said something with a curled lip before closing the door. Then, as if to torture Jesse, Hanzo lifted the hem of his shirt to run over his face, lacking a towel this time. His refined ab structure made Jesse feel like the wind was knocked out of his lungs. He paused in the middle of the hallway, shock making him incapable of planning a course of action. Does he turn tail and leave? Or try to walk past as if he never saw anything? 

Before he could decide, Hanzo took notice of him. 

“McCree.” He smiled, and damn if Jesse wasn’t weak for that smile. “I wanted to apologize if I seemed as if I was rejecting you the other day. Zaryanova and I had plans, but I was going to ask if I could make it up to you.” 

He could see their ‘plans’ right in front of him, but Jesse was only stuck on the fact that Hanzo was asking him out. “I--What did you have in mind?”

Hanzo honest-to-god  _ winked _ . “Just our usual.” He stalked past a struck Jesse, their shoulders brushing. “I’ll see you tonight.” 

So, safe to say, Jesse was shitting bricks. 

‘Our usual’ probably entailed their nightly drinking sessions. It wasn’t much of a date, if that was truly Hanzo’s intentions, but it could be just to get him riled up. He had no idea which one Hanzo meant. 

He tried to dress casually, his usual serape thrown over his shoulders, but he dabbed on some extra cologne just in case. 

Hanzo was already at their usual spot, gourd on one side of him, right next to another bottle. Jesse took his place, already uncapping his own whiskey. It would be a rough night without some alcohol in his system. 

“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come,” Hanzo said, and Jesse wondered if there was something more vulnerable under the teasing tone. Hanzo gripped the top of the second bottle he brought and twisted the label to show Jesse. “I got this for us to try.” 

“Us?” Jesse asked, watching as Hanzo unveiled two shot glasses. 

“Yes,” Hanzo confirmed, twisting the top of the bottle open. “Us.” 

Jesse had never been more unsure about a statement in his life. Nevertheless, he accepted the shot, and hummed at the taste. 

“Not as much bite as my usual stuff,” Jesse noted. “But stronger than your sake.” 

“I figured you would enjoy it after your gripe about my choice in drink,” Hanzo said with a smirk. 

Jesse averted his eyes, hoped his blush didn’t show in the dark. “Certainly better.” 

Hanzo poured them another shot and they lapsed into silence. Unlike their previous late night get togethers, this silence felt uncomfortable. The air felt charged with something, something that made Jesse down his shot quick. 

Hanzo broke the silence with a cough. “How was the mission in Venice?”

Jesse paused with the tip of his whiskey bottle brushing his lip. “Was alright. The casino definitely had Talon action, but we just got there at the wrong time. Maximilian was nowhere to be found.” He took a sip, not missing Hanzo’s eyes trained on him. “Brought back a helluva lot of shit memories, though.” 

“Right,” Hanzo said, quietly, like he was treading on eggshells. “That was where Blackwatch…” 

“Yeah.” Jesse wasn’t sure why he was asking. They didn’t talk personal. But like always, he found himself unable to stop rambling. “The day everything started to go wrong.” He glanced at Hanzo. “Your brother was there, too.” 

“He told me.” Hanzo had his eyes in his shot glass, the dark liquid barely visible against the night. 

“Then why’d ya ask?” If Genji already filled him in, he didn’t need to know Jesse’s perspective. This whole conversation felt out of place for them. 

Hanzo didn’t move his eyes. “I want to understand you.” 

Jesse’s thoughts paused. “What?” 

Hanzo finally looked up, and Jesse thought, for once, he dropped his poker face completely. “You’re a strange man, McCree. You disappear for a few days and then lie to me about it. You try to ask me out and looked terrified when I take you up on the offer. And then you get aloof when I ask you about your life on our date.” Hanzo’s eyes flickered to the ground between them. “I am confused about what you want.” 

Jesse’s brain seemed to have stopped working. His mouth opened and closed for a moment, until he could ask, “This is a date?” 

It was Hanzo’s turn to look frightened. “Was that not clear?” Before Jesse could reply, Hanzo had a hand covering his face. “I apologize. I must have been reading into this too much.” 

He made a motion as if to stand up, and Jesse was reaching for him before he could get too far. Jesse had his grip on Hanzo’s arm, who looked as if he’d been struck with jumper cables. 

“Hang on, hang on,” Jesse said, making Hanzo pause. “You definitely haven’t been reading too much into this. In fact, you’re spot on.” Jesse took a deep breath, allowing Hanzo to sit back down. When Jesse realized he wasn’t trying to leave anymore, he let his hands drop. Hanzo seemed to sit closer now. “I like you Han, I really do. And I wanted to ask ya out proper, to dinner or something, but I…” Hanzo’s hand ghosted over his jaw and it made it hard to finish his sentence. “I just thought…” 

Then his face was being angled and his lips met Hanzo’s. For a moment, he let himself melt into it. His hands ran up Hanzo’s chest, tilting his head to deepen the kiss, swallowing a low moan that shook his spine. It forcefully reminded him of how he was going to finish his earlier sentence however, and he made himself break away. 

“Sorry,” He said at Hanzo’s puzzled expression. The hand on his jaw carefully tangled in his beard. “I can’t. Not when you’re with Zarya.” 

Hanzo’s eyes widened and the hand on his jaw fell. Jesse immediately missed the contact. “ _ What? _ ”

His evident confusion made Jesse doubt himself. Still, he pushed on. “I saw you leave her room, all…” He made gestures to himself, struggling for a term. “Flushed.” 

Hanzo watched him blankly for a long moment, and Jesse wondered if he hallucinated the entire thing. Then Hanzo barked into laughter, making Jesse jump as it echoed into the night. “Is  _ that  _ what you believe?” At Jesse’s flat stare, he laughed some more. 

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Jesse said, crossing his arms. “I was wrong. What actually happened in there?” 

Once Hanzo recovered, he took another shot just to torture Jesse with a coy look. “Do you remember Zaryanova’s arm wrestling match with Reinhardt?” 

It took Jesse a moment to answer. “Yeah?” He had no idea what this had to do with anything. 

Hanzo met his gaze evenly. “When she first arrived, I was impressed by her workout routine. We match fairly well in strength, and she had a vigorous routine that I could challenge myself with. Then she asked me to help her build up her arm strength to challenge Reinhardt again. She wanted her training to be top secret, in case Reinhardt ever found out. So she asked me to meet up at her room to practice.” He smirked at Jesse’s dawning realization. “It was a good challenge for both of us.” He poured them both another shot. 

“Arm wrestling?” Jesse asked, suddenly feeling silly. 

“Arm wrestling,” Hanzo repeated, lifting his shot glass. 

Jesse stayed silent as he watched Hanzo down the shot, setting the glass down with a hesitant look his way. He seemed unsure at Jesse’s reaction. 

He was visibly relieved when Jesse broke down into hysterical giggles. 

“So you mean--” Jesse broke off into laughter mid-sentence. “I could’ve been tryin’ to hit on you long before now - and you weren’t sleeping with some other agent  _ while  _ trying to get with me?”

Hanzo shook his head, covering his mouth as he laughed. “Yes, and no.” He leaned forward, their noses brushing. Jesse felt dizzy at the close proximity. “I have been interested in you and only you.” 

When they kissed, Jesse leaned into it. He let his hands grip Hanzo’s hips, their kiss deepening into something more intense, something that promised more. 

Jesse was not about to let it go. 

**Author's Note:**

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